Global Issues

Chestnut Lane school works with a partner school in Kenya called Ojere School. Ojere is based in a rural area near Kissumu and Lake Victoria on the western side of Kenya. As a school we raise money for specific projects at the school, such as brick buildings, fencing etc. Money is raised by all the children through specific projects such as a Harvest Sale (selling fair-trade and local produce), a toy sale (recycling old, well looked after toys) and a plant sale, selling plants grown by the children in school and with their families. Local gardening groups and grandparents also get involved!

In addition, much of our curriculum work is linked to Kenya. Classes take turns to write to Ojere and ask questions or tell them about the work we have been doing. In 2007 a teacher from Ojere School visited Chestnut Lane School. This was the first time Mrs. Nyagilo had left Kenya, been on an aeroplane and so much more. It was a very enlightening visit for the staff, parents and governors at Chestnut Lane. Tedman Aloo from the British Council has also visited us on several occasions. He last visited in February 2009, during the chaos of the snow!

Red Class study several global issues. We wrote to Ojere and told them all about our snow days. We described snow and how it has affected us going to school (or not!). We wrote instructions on how to make a snowman and explained what it is like to sledge in the snow.

We have also calculated the miles that some food has travelled to get to our plates. We had a balanced meal of basmati rice (India), lamb (New Zealand) green beans (Kenya) and asparagus (Peru) all washed down by orange juice (USA). The total mileage was over 31000 miles which was a trip to Australia, back to the UK, then back to Australia again. We discussed growing our own and buying local produce.

As part of our science curriculum we also looked at endangered species. We looked at how habitats can change when humans cut down trees and build factories. We looked at how animals can survive.

Year 2 held a plant sale at the end of May to raise money for Ojere School. This has been an annual event for several years now. It is also a time when we think about plants grown in Kenya and comparing them with plants grown in the UK.

Red Class regularly feed back to the whole school about their work in assembly.

As part of World Book Day the school supported a charity called Pelican Post by buying a set of books (Handa's Suprise) to be presented to a school in Africa.